Published 1:01 am, Sunday, October 21, 2012

NEW YORK -- Big East coaches will find this out sooner or later, but it's probably best to let them in on a little secret: Don't make the big dog mad.

For those of you who don't know, the big dog is Providence head basketball coach Ed Cooley. Ed stands about 6-foot-5 and weighs close to 20 stones (you figure it out), and it's not a good idea to make him mad. Just ask Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos, who nearly got a face full of Cooley during the 2007 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament in Bridgeport when Cooley was coaching the Fairfield Stags.

Cooley did great things in his five seasons at Fairfield, posting a 92-69 record, which got him the Friars job last season. And after a roller-coaster season in the Big East, when Cooley and Co. started out 11-2 and ended 15-17 (welcome to the Big East!), the fact that Providence was picked dead last out of the league's 15 teams heading into the 2012-13 season has stuck in the big dog's craw.

"Our players are going to be (blanked) off," Cooley said Wednesday at Big East men's media day at the New York Athletic Club. "They really will be because they know how far we've come and what we've done in a year's time. The amount of work that these kids have put in, that's crazy. I don't see that number."

Needless to say, that preseason ranking is going to be a damn fine piece of motivation for the second-year Friars coach.

"I don't think we're going to be there (15th)," Cooley said. "I can't wait to get back to practice and talk to them about that. I was surprised by it, but that's our (league) coaches' reality to our program right now. We have to go out there and earn something. I'm very, very surprised at that. I don't know if there's ever been a preseason first-team guy (senior guard Vincent Council was named to the preseason all-Big East first team) and his team picked last, so that's motivation.

"I'm looking forward to trying to prove a lot of people wrong. Picking us in last place ... that chip will be on our shoulder all year long."

Anytime a new coach inherits a new program and brings a new philosophy and a new coaching staff along with him, there is going to be a transition period. For the Friars, that transition came in the offseason when juniors Gerard Coleman, Mike Murray and Ron Giplaye, along with senior Bilal Dixon, left the program.

Knowing that his team is going to be young -- six of his 11 players are freshmen or sophomores -- Cooley is leaning on his team winning games with defense.

"We've been working on defense, defense, defense and more defense and more defense," Cooley said. "Chemistry. Teamwork. Spending more quality time with our guys away from the floor has been important for my staff and for myself. But if you don't defend in this league, you've got no chance of winning."

Cooley found that out the hard way last season, when the Friars lost several close games in the final minutes, including against Georgetown, West Virginia, Villanova, South Florida and Marquette.

"(Those games) ate at me but I also realized that I was inheriting a team that just wasn't close (chemistry-wise)," Cooley said. "And I think the closer that we become, those kind of games become easier to win, because our guys will play with a purpose of togetherness and not so much individually."

To that extent, after cleaning house, as it were, Cooley made it a top priority to preach chemistry to his players.

"It was the number one thing we talked about after last season," Cooley said. "Building chemistry toward success. That was the number one thing we talked about. This team has grown as far as chemistry. Our players are bonding more."

And as much as the players now under Cooley's watch have learned about chemistry, the coach has learned as much about the grind of the Big East.

"From a coaching perspective, going through one year in the Big East as a head coach, I learned a lot," Cooley said. "The Big East is an animal, night in and night out. The teams and the talent, if you're not prepared, you're going to get smoked."

In the meantime, Cooley will work to continue the rebuilding process at Providence, both on and off the court.

"The energy that's behind us, the passion, it's been unbelievable, more so than I ever thought," said Cooley, who starred in a university-produced "Santa Cooley" video last season. "It's a buzz everywhere. Every time you walk around, there's so much excitement.

"Santa Cooley will make another appearance this year. Hopefully we can deliver some wins under the tree."